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I’ve got what you might call time-management problems — more inherited than inherent, the by-product of chronic pain and disability.

In other words, it’s not my fault. I just have So. Much. Shit. To Do. Not only that, but everything takes, like, 57 million times as long as it used to.

For starters, both my wrists were injured this past summer. (Oh yeah, and I’m a writer. You do the math.)

Fortunately, we live in a hi-tech era, with the blessing of voice-activated software. Speaking of which, whose bright idea was it to release a Mac-compatible version of Dragon only after I spent six months banging my head against a PC?

Unfortunately, even the best voice-activated software translates “hi Kate” into “he’s irate,” “please send” into “police band,” and “I hate this” into “a huge kiss.” You can imagine how much fun I have dictating.

Whereas I type 100 wpm by hand, I “type” at a snail’s pace by voice, having to stop and correct between one and glee three words in Every. Single. Flocking. Fucking. Sentence. Ark. Aargh!!!!!

Yesterday morning, I decided to dictate my latest goals and objectives. You know, so I’d stop scribbling life’s ambitions on the back of jelly-stained envelopes strewn about the house.

A simple enough task, right?

Damn thing took me well over an hour. Not the act of composing it, mind you, but the mere act of “typing.”

That in turn gave me a late start getting to hand therapy, which was a 4-hour round-trip. (Um, excuse me, but why is the car behind me in a traffic jam always driven by someone determined to initiate anal intercourse?).

By the time I got home, I couldn’t afford to go to the gym. I had to get some work done! — namely, posting last night’s blog, which took eight hours.

I rilly rilly want to commit to daily exercise (got to the gym three times this week, you’d be so proud of me), but chronic pain creates a chain reaction of obstacles in my life; and overcoming them requires that I do a whole laundry list of things which directly compete for my time.

Healing the body through natural means, while surviving the day-to-day, seems like holding several full-time jobs.

Do you feel the same? Do you have these kind of time management problems? If so, I’d love to know about your experience and hear any tips you can share.